Post by Honorebu on Mar 23, 2016 3:14:15 GMT
Considering the pivotal role telecommunications plays in the lives and economic wellbeing of any country, no effort should be spared in protecting the infrastructure and platforms of the industry, according to the executive vice chairman (EVC), of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Prof Umar Garba Danbatta.
The NCC is concerned about the increasing cases of illegal sealing up of telecoms Base Transceiver Stations (BTS) across the country by various persons, including organisations, communities, agencies of the federal, state and local governments, at times using law enforcement officers.
Danbatta led a team of the NCC directors and officials on a courtesy visit to the inspector general of police (IGP), Solomon Arase, in Abuja recently, and lamented that apart from the actions being illegal, they also violate the Criminal Justice (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act, CAP C39, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004.
Sealing up of base stations also has its social implication of cutting off subscribers from communicating, thereby degrading quality of service which is already a major concern. Acts of wilful destruction of telecoms infrastructure, cutting of fibre optics and general vandalism have become very worrisome, hence the proposal for the institution of a critical infrastructure law that will require the police to monitor and protect public infrastructure.
One of the biggest victims of this vandalism is MTN Nigeria which experiences an average of 70 cuts on its fibre optic cables nationwide monthly. Last month, the Ondo State Government shut down MTN’s facilities which negatively impacted upon the quality of service in the state and its environs and affected millions of subscribers. MTN’s Corporate Services executive, Amina Oyagbola, said that MTN has fulfilled all its statutory obligations with respect to the PAYE, Withholding Tax and Development Levy, amongst others, contrary to the Ondo State Board of Internal Revenue Service (OSBIRS) claim.
“It would appear that the board is seeking to impute the liability of third party contractors on MTN based on its “best judgment” assessment. MTN has clarified that it is not liable for third party service providers who are corporate legal entities,” she said.
Some of the services that were impacted upon were voice and data services, voice traffic across other operators and international traffic. Ondo State has alleged that MTN owed it about N458 million in taxes and levies which led to the shutdown of the facilities.
The chief executive officer of MTN Nigeria, Ferdi Moolman, said, “We have invested more than $16 billion in Nigeria over the past 15 years and contribute an estimated 4.5 per cent to the GDP. We remain committed to the country and our top priorities are to improve network and service quality as well as data speeds for our customers.”
The chairman, Association of Licenced Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria (ALTON), Mr Gbenga, said that the incidences of the closure of its members’ BTS sites and other telecoms infrastructure on the excuse of non-payment of arbitrarily imposed taxes and levies imposed by states and local government authorities in the name of internally generated revenue (IGR) is having adverse effect on the quality of service. He urged the IGP to direct all police commands to kindly, but strictly enforce taxation demands pursuant to court orders only.
“In the case of telecoms companies, such order should only be orders of the Federal High Court since telecommunications is on the exclusive legislative list,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Technology executive, Accenture Nigeria, Tolu Akinluyi, said that the protection of critical infrastructure alone is insufficient.
“It is important to create a national ICT business continuity plan which will examine all critical infrastructure, determine our recovery capabilities and put in place the necessary contingencies to assure recovery within required timelines,” he said.
Leadership.ng
The NCC is concerned about the increasing cases of illegal sealing up of telecoms Base Transceiver Stations (BTS) across the country by various persons, including organisations, communities, agencies of the federal, state and local governments, at times using law enforcement officers.
Danbatta led a team of the NCC directors and officials on a courtesy visit to the inspector general of police (IGP), Solomon Arase, in Abuja recently, and lamented that apart from the actions being illegal, they also violate the Criminal Justice (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act, CAP C39, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004.
Sealing up of base stations also has its social implication of cutting off subscribers from communicating, thereby degrading quality of service which is already a major concern. Acts of wilful destruction of telecoms infrastructure, cutting of fibre optics and general vandalism have become very worrisome, hence the proposal for the institution of a critical infrastructure law that will require the police to monitor and protect public infrastructure.
One of the biggest victims of this vandalism is MTN Nigeria which experiences an average of 70 cuts on its fibre optic cables nationwide monthly. Last month, the Ondo State Government shut down MTN’s facilities which negatively impacted upon the quality of service in the state and its environs and affected millions of subscribers. MTN’s Corporate Services executive, Amina Oyagbola, said that MTN has fulfilled all its statutory obligations with respect to the PAYE, Withholding Tax and Development Levy, amongst others, contrary to the Ondo State Board of Internal Revenue Service (OSBIRS) claim.
“It would appear that the board is seeking to impute the liability of third party contractors on MTN based on its “best judgment” assessment. MTN has clarified that it is not liable for third party service providers who are corporate legal entities,” she said.
Some of the services that were impacted upon were voice and data services, voice traffic across other operators and international traffic. Ondo State has alleged that MTN owed it about N458 million in taxes and levies which led to the shutdown of the facilities.
The chief executive officer of MTN Nigeria, Ferdi Moolman, said, “We have invested more than $16 billion in Nigeria over the past 15 years and contribute an estimated 4.5 per cent to the GDP. We remain committed to the country and our top priorities are to improve network and service quality as well as data speeds for our customers.”
The chairman, Association of Licenced Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria (ALTON), Mr Gbenga, said that the incidences of the closure of its members’ BTS sites and other telecoms infrastructure on the excuse of non-payment of arbitrarily imposed taxes and levies imposed by states and local government authorities in the name of internally generated revenue (IGR) is having adverse effect on the quality of service. He urged the IGP to direct all police commands to kindly, but strictly enforce taxation demands pursuant to court orders only.
“In the case of telecoms companies, such order should only be orders of the Federal High Court since telecommunications is on the exclusive legislative list,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Technology executive, Accenture Nigeria, Tolu Akinluyi, said that the protection of critical infrastructure alone is insufficient.
“It is important to create a national ICT business continuity plan which will examine all critical infrastructure, determine our recovery capabilities and put in place the necessary contingencies to assure recovery within required timelines,” he said.
Leadership.ng